Titus County officials aren't holding out hope for the return of a county laptop that was stolen last week after being left outside and unattended..

The laptop, belonging to Titus County Elections Administrator Leonard Rockwell, was stolen one week ago after Rockwell propped the device on the back of his pickup truck while he ran across the street to the Mount Pleasant Post Office.

His truck was parked in the election office's parking lot, located across the street from the post office.

"I was gone no more than five minutes to get stamps, and I came back and it was missing," Rockwell said. "I was getting ready to go out of town and I was in fast mode, trying to get a lot of things done at once."

Rockwell, who said he didn't have a bag to put the laptop in, improvised and balanced it on his truck's back bumper. He had planned to take the laptop with him to Austin to attend election training.

Rockwell stressed no voter-sensitive information was on the home computer repair when it was taken.

"We don't keep any voter registration information on the computer. That's all done through a database that's linked up to the Texas Secretary of State office," Rockwell said.

He noted a password is needed to access the database and that his was not saved to the computer. He's since gone in and changed his password and other private information to deter anyone from gaining access to documents and files.

Most of what was included on the laptop were copies of contracts signed with area entities to hold elections, figures relating to past voter turnout and sample letters to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"It's all things that are public information anyway, and were just easy to access there on the computer," Rockwell said.

A report was filed with the Mount Pleasant Police Department, but the laptop has yet to turn up.

"Even though all the pawn shops and authorities have been notified, it's probably history," said Titus County Judge Sam Russell, who admitted his main concern was if sensitive information was kept on the computer.

All area pawn shops and computer-related businesses have been notified.

"What they're probably going to do is try to pawn it," Rockwell said. "We've also notified all of the computer repair shops and those selling computer accessories. All they got was the laptop. Sooner or later the battery is going to go dead and they'll need some accessories."http://www.foxriverantiques.com

A remote computer repair business in Georgetown Township that discovered child porn on a customer's PC is pushing for new state legislation to combat the problem.

A Remote Computer repair House Calls wants technicians to be required to report crimes against children after turning in a 52-year-old Grand Rapids man last year. Michael Robert Brown had asked for his machine to be repaired, but when child porn was spotted, the company notified police, although they didn’t have to do so. It was one of two such incidents it was involved in during 2007.

A bill has been introduced in the state Senate by Holland’s Wayne Kuipers, who will hold a hearing on the matter in Lansing this afternoon. If passed, it would require technicians with knowledge of child sexually abusive material to report their findings to police, although a specific search for such material would not be allowed.

A computer repair business in Georgetown Township that discovered child porn on a customer's PC is pushing for new state legislation to combat the problem.

Computer repair House Calls wants technicians to be required to report crimes against children after turning in a 52-year-old Grand Rapids man last year. Michael Robert Brown had asked for his machine to be repaired, but when child porn was spotted, the company notified police, although they didn’t have to do so. It was one of two such incidents it was involved in during 2007.

A bill has been introduced in the state Senate by Holland’s Wayne Kuipers, who will hold a hearing on the matter in Lansing this afternoon. If passed, it would require technicians with knowledge of child sexually abusive material to report their findings to police, although a specific search for such material would not be allowed.